Several connecting elements are known from the prior art, which can be attached to a component surface with the aid of heat activated glue or hot melt adhesive. These connecting elements are described, for example, in the documents EP 0 741 842 B1, U.S. Pat. No. 3,3532,316, DE 103 59 466 A1, EP 0 504 957 A2 and DE 10 2006 012 411 A1.
For attaching these connecting elements to a component surface, the connecting elements have a disk or disk-like structure. This disk comprises an attachment surface that faces toward the component surface. The hot melt adhesive, for example, is applied on the attachment surface, and then activated by heat supply, and is cured. Various designs of these connecting elements show a flat attachment surface, an attachment surface having webs or supporting projections, and a depression-shaped attachment surface which receives the hot melt adhesive.
These connecting elements frequently have the problem that although the disk is sufficiently attached on the component surface, the pin fastened in the disk does not withstand the mechanical loading, for example, during the attachment of a structural component. This leads to a premature failure of the attachment of the structural component, even though the connecting element remains sufficiently attached to the component surface.
A further disadvantage is that the known connecting elements are designed for using heat activated glue. If, in contrast, a glue is used that is activated or cured by light, the light irradiated from outside does not reach the glue at all, or reaches it with an intensity that is too low, due to the non-transparency of the connecting element. This leads to the glue being insufficiently cured, and thus, the connecting element cannot be reliably attached on the component surface.
Therefore, it is the object of the present invention to provide a connecting element for gluing onto a component surface using a light curing glue. A further object is to provide a production method and an attachment method for this connecting element.